Eighth Fleet
The Eighth Fleet is one of the numbered fleets that makes up Starfleet. It is currently commanded by ----- History In the year 2367, just after the Borg attack on Sector 001, the Federation Council and Starfleet Command began to work out ways to prevent another similar attack. At that time, plans were formulated to revamp one of Starfleet's fleets with some of Starfleet's most advanced ships and dispatch them to Sector 349, just past Klingon space. This fleet, the Eight Fleet, was to defend the Federation and the Klingon Empire from any possible future Borg incursions. While this plan was ambitious and highly supported in the halls of Starfleet Command, the plan was set aside; rebuilding the entirety of Starfleet was priority at the time. Losses at the hands of the Borg along the Romulan Neutral Zone and the path the Borg carved throughout the Federation on its way to Earth were severe, culminating in the Battle of Wolf 359. With the thoughts of the Borg in the back of the mind of all of Starfleet, anti-Borg technologies and tactics were being built up and created in the mean time. Three years later the Federation had its first contact with a group from the Gamma Quadrant known as the Dominion. In the ensuing events, Starfleet's interests were shifted from the Borg to the Dominion given that very little was being heard from the Borg at the time, and the threat the Dominion was posing was imminent. Starfleet stepped up its ship building efforts to increase the fleet size by at least thirty percent with newer, better equipped starships. In 2373, the Federation got its wake up call; on stardate 50893.5 the sight of Starfleet was shifted away from the Dominion temporarily as a Borg cube entered Federation space. Destroying a Federation colony on Ivor Prime, the course of the Borg cube was certainly projected as Earth. A quickly assembled Federation fleet met the cube in the Typhon Sector in an attempt to stop it from reaching Earth. Failing in the attempt, but gaining more time to gather more starships with the fleet, the fleet regrouped and made a last ditch stand at Earth itself. The arrival of the USS Enterprise proved the decisive edge with the advanced technologies of the newly created Sovereign-class. After the successful conclusion of the battle Starfleet again brought up the Eight Fleet. Successfully pushing it and convincing the right admirals the plans were put in place to reorganize Starfleet to allow the opening of the new Eight Fleet, which was to be given the codename of 'Shadow Fleet'. A high ranking admiral in Starfleet, Elizabet Brown was promoted to fleet admiral and given command in order to help better facilitate the formation, structuralization and command of the fleet. The leadership of the Eight Fleet decided to move the fleet headquarters to the newly built Starbase 123 code named 'Alexandria Station'. During that time, Fleet Admiral Brown began to recruit staff all throughout the different levels of the fleet; coordination of formation of the fleet, it's staff, and everything else involved was coordinated from the fleet's flagship: the USS Chimera. A fleet executive officer and chief of staff were chosen, and the groundwork was set to fill in the various task forces. It was also during this time that the Special Assault and Battle Recon Excursion (S.A.B.R.E.) was activated by the Starfleet Marine Corps to be assigned to the Eight Fleet. The S.A.B.R.E. Division was to be assigned to several starships as well as operating its own vessels dedicated more closely to combat. During the next few months, the starships of the Eight Fleet operated in Sector 349 of the Beta Quadrant. To keep a constant Federation presence in the reign, the _____ Fleet Yards was constructed. A full detachment of Klingon warships, in a joint effort with Starfleet, was assigned to operate out of Alexandria Station as well. Led by a Klingon general, the IKS ______ was assigned as the flagship of the Klingon unit. Shortly thereafter full open war was declared with the Dominion. Eight Fleet was ordered from Sector 349 to the Alpha Quadrant. The Chimera was assigned to lead a small Federation/Klingon task group and protect space station Deep Space 9's flank. Instead, the Eight Fleet executive officer, took it upon himself and ordered his own task force to intercept a Dominion convoy which was quickly heading into the Bajor sector. In the next three months, as the Federation and Klingons played cat and mouse, the Eight Fleet was assigned many new starships to be dispatched between her task forces. The fleet grew from 57 ships and one starbase to 125 ships and 6 starbases. The Eight Fleet went on an offensive and attacked a Dominion shipyard, several convoys, and other targets with relative success. These attacks helped Captain Sisko make his decision to retake Deep Space 9. Several Eight Fleet ships were assigned to Sisko's force, including the Chimera and Valley Forge. As the battle progressed, the Klingons arrived and caught the Dominion fleet off guard. The Defiant made it through and warped off towards Deep Space 9. Eventually the remaining forces were able to punch larger holes through the Dominion fleet and follow the Defiant back to Deep Space 9, where the station was reclaimed by the Federation forces. On Stardate 52576.0 the Eight Fleet gathered near the Badlands for an assigned fleet mission targeted against the Dominion. At great loss, the Eight Fleet regained the planet Draconia, well over two thousand prisoners of war, and destroyed more than 85 Dominion warships and a major ship producing shipyard. A few days later, the war ended with the final assault on Cardassia Prime. The Eight Fleet, originally developed to combat the Borg, Dominion and other large threats, now needed a new direction with the peace time that followed the war with the Dominion. Reforming into ten task forces the Eight Fleet was spread out across not only the Alpha Quadrant but the entire galaxy. Starfleet decided to make its way back into the Gamma Quadrant, careful to not intrude on Dominion space in order to avoid another war, expanded its efforts and forces near Alexandria Station on the far side of the Klingon and Romulan Empires, and tasked the Eight Fleet with improving relations with all the major galactic empires. With the return of the USS Voyager to the Alpha Quadrant and the discovery of an ancient Iconian gateway, the Federation established a presence in the Delta Quadrant. In 2379 an internal political shakeup in the Romulan Empire and the ensuing incident allowed for better relations between the Federation and Romulan Empire. The Eight Fleet was instrumental in forging a better alliance between the two powers. Helping the interim Romulan government form and the new, permanent Romulan government be put in place, the Eight Fleet was making notoriety all over the Federation. It was also shortly after this time that the Klingon Empire began more in-depth exchange programs with Starfleet through the Eight Fleet.